Disc Reviews

Grand Piano Review

14th Oct 2014

Elijah Wood plays Tom Selznick a bit of a grand master behind the keys who at his latest performance to an adoring crowd is contacted while on stage by a stranger (John Cusack) who makes the message clear: Play one wrong note and he gets a bullet in the head.

As daft concepts go this is right up there, but it also becomes clear right away that the film-makers really know what they are doing and have decided to roll with it and make the film as tense as possible for the audience.

Wood does sterling work as the nervous guy trapped behind the keys having to play the performance of his career. Cusack literally phones it in as the voice in Selznick’s ear (but when we do get to see him it’s another case of Cusack turning up in his favourite black suit again. We suspect that on weekends he just hangs out in a club with Pacino and Segal).

There is a supporting cast on hand, but special mention must go to Alex Winter (Yes, Bill from Bill and Ted) who makes a welcome return to mainstream screens in an engaging supporting role.

Honours though have to go to the director (Eugenio Mira) for elevating this material beyond perhaps where it deserved to be; making it a consistently entertaining watch. This attention to detail on shots to create tension is something that has been lacking in the pot-boiler thriller for some time now.

This is a master class in how to make a concept thriller work well regardless of its B-movie origins. This aspires to be something all together “grander” and it succeeds. Well worth a look or even a blind buy.